Candidates & Career Outcomes

Career Outcomes and Trajectories of Recent Graduates

2023-2024
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Daniel McClymondsWhat Benefactors Want: Social Movement Patronage in Pittsburgh’s 20th century RedevelopmentJoshua Bloom Visiting Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh
Christina OngA Place of Our Own: The Basement Workshop and the Making of Asian AmericaJoshua Bloom Postdoctoral Fellow, with possible conversion to the tenure track, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Chie TogamiFunding Climate Action: New Grassroots Social Movements, Resource Mobilization, and the Role of Philanthropic PatronageSuzanne StaggenborgAssistant Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
(Tenure track)
2022-2023
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Daniel BurridgeReinventing the Left(s) in El Salvador and Nicaragua: Revolutionary Legacies, Movement-State Negotiations, and Competing Projects of Governance John MarkoffResearch Scientist, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Alannah CaiseyBlack Women's Liberatory Pedagogies: Towards a Transformative Theory and PraxisMelanie HughesPostdoctoral Fellow, National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago
2021-2022
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Ayşe Alnıaçık BirelmaThe Politics of Discourse on Gendered Violence in Turkey, 1980-2005: From Family Disaster to Honor KillingsLisa BrushPostdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Gender Studies at Koç University
Sebastian Cuellar SarmientoMohammed BamyehAssistant Professor of Sociology at Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Tenure track)
Brittany DuncanA Cross-National Study of Women's Legislative Committee LeadershipMelanie Hughes 
Basak GemiciThree Essays on Authoritarian Populism in Everyday Life: Turkey 2017-2019Lisa BrushPostdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Mitch Kiefer Studies on the Cultures and Politics of Environmental KnowledgeWaverly DuckLecturer, with possible conversion to the tenure track, Maastricht University
Hillary LazarOn Love and Revolution: Towards a Loving Turn in Social Movement StudiesJohn MarkoffTeaching Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of Sociology
Joshua McDermottUnderstanding West Africa's Informal Workers as Working ClassMohammed BamyehAssistant Professor Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Southeastern Louisiana University (Tenure track)
George WeddingtonBecoming Black Lives Matter: Racial Change and the Emergence of Black MovementsSuzanne StaggenborgAssistant Professor, University of New Mexico (Tenure track)
2020-2021
Name Dissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Suzanne PetrusicSrebrenica as Discourse: An Ethnography of PowerMohammed BamyehDirector - Research, Gartner
Candice RobinsonFor the Movement: An Ethnography of the National Urban League, the Black Middle Class, and Black Movement CommunitiesSuzanne StaggenborgAssistant Professor Of Sociology, University of North Carolina Wilmington (Tenure track)
Caitlin SchroeringThe Global Economy, Resource Conflicts, and Transnational Social Movements: Dimensions of Resistance to Water PrivatizationJackie Smith, Suzanne StaggenborgAssistant Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina, Charlotte (Tenure track)
2019-2020
Name Dissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Benjamin CaseWhen Yelling Isn't Good Enough: Riots and Non-Nonviolent Civil ResistanceJohn MarkoffResistance Studies Affiliate, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Alana Fields“Coaching Boys Into Men”: Exploring Implementation, Evaluation, and Content of a Gender-Transformative Violence Prevention ProgramLisa BrushPost-Doctoral Associate, University of Pittsburgh
Corinne OgrodnikContentious Coalitions, Movement Divisions, and Strategic Action Fields. Factors Motivating and Unlikely Alliance of Environmental Organizations and Gas Companies.Suzanne StaggenborgManaging Director, Maitri Holdings, LLC
2018-2019
Name Dissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Hatem HassanThugs in Revolution: Transforming the Criminal Body amidst Political Transition in EgyptMohammed BamyehEducation Researcher for BloomBoard
Samantha PlummerThree Essays on Poverty, Social Services, and Advice-GivingLisa BrushPost-Doctoral Researcher at Columbia University 
2017-2018
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position 
Gabriel ChouhyEducation Experts, Intellectual Movements, Left Parties: Three Essays on Neoliberal Politics in Chile and BeyondLisa Brush and John MarkoffZemurray-Stone Postdoctoral Fellow in Latin American Studies at Tulane University
Elizabeth YatesInstitutionalization Without Deradicalization: Political Culture and the Evolution of the Tea Party MovementKathleen BleeJunior Researcher at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland
Suzanna EddyonoTHE REPRESENTATIONS OF INDONESIANNESS IN POST-NEW ORDER INDONESIA Mohammed Bamyeh Faculty of Social and Political Sciences in the Department of Social Development and Welfare at Gadjah Mada University 
John CudaRe-Enchanting the Social: Identity Transformation, Embodiment, and Prefigurative Religious Practices within Contemporary SpiritualitiesMohammed BamyehAssistant Professor at Nova Southeastern University
2016-2017
Name Dissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Mehr LatifRe-Envisioning Kinship and the State in PakistanKathleen Blee and Mohammed BamyehAssistant Professor at UMass Boston
Mohammad Golam Nabi MozumderThe Body, Subjectivity, and Sociality: Fakir Lalon Shah and His Followers in Contemporary BangladeshMohammed BamyehResearch Associate at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies
Jeffrey TienesKeeping it "Real": Making a Career in Pittsburgh's Rap Music SceneLisa BrushVisiting Instructor at Clarion University of Pennsylvania
2015-2016
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Sharon QuinsaatMobilizations for Homeland Regime Change and the Making of the Filipino DiasporaSuzanne StaggenborgAssociate Professor at Grinnell College
Ervin DyerTwo Paths Forward: An Ethnographic Study of Somali Bantu Refugees Living in a Northeastern City Public Housing Community Waverly Duck and Akiko HashimotoSenior editor, Pitt Magazine
Marie SkoczylasAnarchism and Prefigurative Politics in the Occupy Movement: A Study of Occupied Space, Horizontal Structure, and Anarchist Theory in PracticeKathleen BleeData Scientist at Highmark Health
Carolyn ZookMilitary Experience and the Shaping of Nationalism in the US Armed ForcesMohammed Bamyeh and Rachel Kutz-FlamenbaumAssociate Director, Center for Community and Global Health at Lewis & Clark College
Yven DestinImmigrant Coverage in the American Diaspora: Representing Haitians in the Miami Media, 1979-2010Kathleen Blee and Akiko HashimotoUpper School History Teacher at Charlotte Country Day School
DaShanne StokesHow an Entity Becomes a State: Tibet, Taiwan, Palestine, and the Quest for RecognitionMohammed BamyehInstructor at University of Kentucky
2014-2015
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Daniel NunezViolence and the State in Postwar GuatemalaJohn MarkoffResearcher at Dialogos
Maria DillardMeasuring the Social-Ecological Resilience of Coastal and Small Island Communities to Inform Policy, Planning, and PracticeJohn Marx and Suzanne StaggenborgActing Director of Disaster and Failure Studies at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Xi ZhangThe Effects of Internal Migration on Regional Inequality in China: Evidence from Panel Data AnalysisVijai SinghAssistant Director of Data Science, Institutional Research and Decision Support at the University of California
Nichole BaylissWhere You Live Does Matter: The Impact of Racial Residential Segregation on Racial Disparities in Cancer Incidence and Morality in Northeastern and Southern US Counties, 2005-2009John Marx and Suzanne StaggenborgAssociate Professor and Program Coordinator for Psychology at Chatham University
2013-2014
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Kimberly CreasapSweden Ends Here? Social Movement Scenes and the Right to the CityKathleen BleeDirector, Hagen Center for Civic and Urban Engagement at Wittenberg University
Jane WalshOur Struggles Are Not the Same, but They Converge: Farmworkers, Allies, and the Fair Food MovementJohn MarkoffAssistant Professor of Sociology at PennWest Clarion
Amy McDowellRebellious Religion: Christian Hardcore and Muslim 'Taqwacore' Punk RockKathleen BleeAssistant Professor of Sociology at University of Mississippi
2012-2013
Name Dissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Selman YilmazState, Politics, and Religion: Effects of Political and Social Change on the Relationship between State and Religion in Turkey, 2002-2012Mohammed BamyehAssistant Professor at Ankara University
Kelsy BurkeGod, Sex, and the Internet: The Faithful, Virtual, and Sexual Lives of Contemporary Evangelicial ChristiansKathleen BleeAssociate Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2011-2012
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Piotr KoniecznyThe Impact of Modern Information and Communication Technologies on Social MovementsJohn MarkoffAssociate Professor of Informational Sociology at the University of Hanyang
Veronica SzaboYouth and Politics in Communist Romania, 1980-1989John MarkoffLicensed Realtor at RE/MAX Select Realty
Yolanda HernandezNarratives of Identity and Motherhood among Latin American Migrant WomenMohammed BamyehProfessor at Universidad Loyola Andalucia
Kathleen Bulger GrayNegotiating Race Talk: How Whites Hide Racial Privilege and Structural InequalityKathleen BleeAssistant Academic Dean at St. Francis College
Jared CoopersmithScientific Controversies, Boundary Disputes, and Mobilization: The Intelligent Design Movement NetworkPat Doriean and Akiko HashimotoSenior Statistician at Mathematica Policy Research
2010-2011
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Amy KubichekThe Effects of Economic Development, Urbanization, Women’s Rights Programs, Women’s Microcredit Programs, and Women’s Market-Oriented Programs on Gender Inequality in IndiaLisa BrushResearch Associate at the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Kai HeidemannGiving Voice to Language: Basque Language Activism and the Politics of Education Reform in France, 1969-1994Akiko HashimotoAssistant Professor at Maastricht University
2009-2010
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Sambriddhi KharelThe Dialectics of Identity and Resistance among Dalits in NepalCecilia GreenBoard of Directors, Samarpan Academy, Institute of Crisis Management Studies (Nepal)
2008-2009
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Margaret KerrAutism Spectrum Disorders and Vaccines: The Making of a Health Social MovementJohn Marx and John MarkoffAuthor and Instructor, Robert Morris University
Maria Jose Alvarez-RivadullaContentious Urbanization from Below: Land Squatting in Montevideo, UruguayJohn MarkoffAssociate Professor of Sociology at Universidad de los Andes
Melissa SwaugerWhatever Her Little Heart Desires: How Class and Race Influence Adolescent Girls Perceptions of the FutureKathleen BleeAssociate Professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania
2007-2008
NameDissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position
Monica Solinas SaundersAdolescent Antisocial Behavior and Adult Intimate Partner ViolencePhyllis CoontzAssociate Professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Adjunct Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Indiana University Northwest
Lisa Huebner-RuchtiProfessional Intimacy: An Ethnography of Care in Hospital Nursing Kathleen BleeAssociate Professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at West Chester University
2006-2007
Name Dissertation TitleDissertation AdvisorCurrent Position 
Christine Anthou Alex21st Century Participation in Two US Greek Orthodox ChurchesKathleen Blee 
Ashley CurrierThe Visibility of Sexual Minority Movement Organizations in South Africa and NamibiaKathleen BleeAssociate Professor and Department Head of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati 
Hyung Sam ParkA Longitudinal Analysis of the Environmental Movement Sector's Litigation Network in the United States 1970-2001Patrick DorieanAssociate Lecturer in the Sociology Department at the University of Central Florida
Dana Reinke WillmerAssessing Place Character in Response to Wal-MartKathleen BleeHuman Factors Branch Chief at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Connie OxfordGender-Based Persecution in Asylum Law and Policy in the United StatesKathleen BleeAssistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the State University of New York Plattsburgh